Pontiac prison transfers ordered halted

November 18, 2008

A judge in Johnson County today issued a temporary restraining order against the Illinois Department of Corrections, preventing it from transferring more inmates out of the Pontiac Correctional Center until it resolves a grievance with the prison's employee union.

The lawsuit, filed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, is one of three against the state to block the closing of Pontiac in rural Livingston County.

This suit says corrections officials are endangering the safety of prison employees by transferring inmates to prisons that already are overcrowded.

Johnson County is where one of three prisons that is receiving Pontiac inmates operates.